February 2/99 9:40 am - Ontario News, Lakeridge X-Games

Posted by Editor on 02/2/99

Advisory Committee Meeting

The Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee is holding its second annual Cycling Conference on Saturday May 29, 1999 in the Civic Centre (aka City Hall) in Mississauga. Full details can be found at http://www.interlog.com/~lroyer

The purpose of the conference is to solicit public opinion on how to improve cycling in the city, particularly with respect to improving the bike network, inmproving safety, and improving air quality.

Philip Green (Conference chair)

Lakeridge X-Games(courtesy Chico)

The Lakeridge X-Games brought out 70 downhill mountain bikers to Ontario's only downhill winter race. Two-time Canadian Downhill Champ Eric Cseff and crazy Jay Jell designed a course that made for some excellent spectator areas and terrific crashes . The 400 metre was built using one of the resort's groomers for an entire day moving tonnes of snow to create a mountain bike cross course with many jumps, berms and a giant table top just before the finish.

Riders were given two qualifying runs and when the snow settled Lalena Desautels had the fastest qualifying time for women, while Ontario Cup Champ Doug Beattie set a qualifying time 3/10 of a second faster than race favourite Airick Cseff. The elimination rounds saw many upsets with Airick crashing out early and losing to a low seeded rider. But as Airick said, "Snow is unpredictable and anything can happen." When the ice crystals settled Doug Beattie was consistently the fastest rider besting Mark Wells in the final elimination, and Cecile Gambin getting the edge over top-seeded Lalena Desautels.

Special thanks to Lakeridge Ski Resort, CFTO, Coca-Cola, Norco Performance Bikes and all the other sponsors and volunteers that made the day a success. This event had a cash purse of $1,500 with $500 going to the men's winner Doug Beattie and $250 to the ladie's winner Cecile Gambin.

Results (top 3):

Women:1. Cecile Gambin2. Lalena Desautels 3. Caroline Derouet

Men:1. Doug Beattie2. Mark Wells3. Brent Smith

Special Note - Downhiller Justin Tilson raced using a custom wheelchair designed by a race car engineer. He was definitely the crowd favourite on the hill!